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Sunday, February 15, 2015

Job must have been having a real bad day when he said the
following,
Is not man’s life on earth drudgery?
Are not his days those of a hireling?
He is a slave who longs for the shade,
A hireling who waits for his wages.

“So I have been assigned months of misery, and troubled nights have been
allotted to me. If in bed….I am filled with restlessness until the dawn. My
days are swifter that the weaver’s shuttle; they come to and end without hope.
Remember that my life is like the wind; I shall not see happiness again.” Job
7: 1-4, 6-7.

In expressing his frustration with his life, we are provided with a great
opportunity to reflect on the frustrations of our daily living. We, however,
have something that Job DID NOT have, that is the insights that are ours
because of the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord, and
Savior, Jesus The Christ. Because of the gift of faith in our Baptism, we are
gifted with a different set of lenses. We are, by grace, able to go beyond the
seemingly hopelessness of any given moment in life to that which lies beyond. The
spiritual life is ever and always seeing with “the x-ray eye of faith.” Because
of this great gift we are able, if however, we so choose, we are empowered to
the see beyond the seen, the unseen. In this Great Unseen, lies the great hope
we are all so desperately needing.

We, however, must make a choice. We must get into action so that God can join
us in that reality, and become the source of power in our powerlessness. There
is a great temptation when we are immersed in the sufferings of life to get
into the attitude of, “poor me.” We take up our position on the “pity pot” of
toxic shame. It takes real grace, real effort to arise from being mired in
shame, to the live life and live it to the fullest. As you know, toxic shame
takes away your five rights. These rights are essential for a happy, joy-full,
empowering life. When we have been shamed, we lose first of all, the right to
love. We lose the right to be the beloved. Being the beloved is ours because of
our God’s love for us, not our love for God. It is the one gift we have to
claim again, and again, in each and every moment we are given to live. If we do
not have the lens of being the beloved, we will of necessity end up just like
Job. That is the choice you and I get to make. This choice is NOT made once a
day, a week, or a lifetime. No, this choice is made, following the advice of
Henri Nouwen, every moment of every day. This is in direct opposition of what
another has shockingly written when he writes: “We abort our souls a THOUSAND
times a day.” We shudder when we are faced with that reality, yet it is the
unfortunate truth. A truth we must have, if we are to have a healthy spirit
life. There is nothing more essential claiming you are the beloved. You do NOT,
and cannot earn this blessing. We cannot do anything to deserve this priceless
gift. It is a great blow to our egos when we accept the fact that we cannot
qualify for this inestimable gift. It is free. It is grace.

The other gift we have to claim, because it has been taken away from us, is our
right to belong. When we are on the “pity pot”, in toxic shame, we isolate. We
cut ourselves off. It takes real effort to claim we all belong to an imperfect
human family. The fact we are human, is a fact we grow in acceptance with, and
in time, become reconciled with. This is a long, long process. This requires a
source of unconditional, unlimited, and unrestricted love. Without this source
we cannot, by ourselves, live the life of the beloved. We are social animals.
We are, of our essential nature orientated to social living. The Creator
Father, lives The Son, and Holy Spirit within the community, we name The
Holy Trinity. The original Holy Family. God does live in community so are we
are called to community, social living as well. In Them, we live and move and
have our being. As it was, so it is, and ever shall be.

The next right that must be reclaimed is your right to worthwhileness. I love
that commercial that says, “It is expensive, but I am worth it.” When we are
shamed we seldom, if ever, place ourselves as the priority when it come to
healthy love and healthy living. Boy, I wish I had a penny, yes just a penny,
for all the times I have had to remind those I have journeyed with of the
Commandment that the rabbi Jesus taught His followers: “You shall love your
neighbor, as yourself.” So very few, when they approach the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, examine themselves on that basic commandment. The present
Bishop from Green Bay has said that “a healthy love of God, and a healthy love
of another, BEGINS with a healthy love of self.” We will never be healthy
spiritually until we live our lives in the reality of a love that is “patient
and kind.” A love that takes no offense, and is not resent-full.” That is the
lens through which our Gracious Prodigal God sees us. Any distortion, and there
has been so much distortion that vision must of necessity be fought. There are
consequences to fighting this distortion. Look at how much flak Pope Francis is
taking from some “good” people within the church. We must always remember that
it was “the good people” of Jesus’ time that conspired to kill Him. History has
a way of repeating itself. In so far as, we are seeing ourselves through the
lens of God’s love will we live lives free of toxic shame. We will be able to
live in the reality of being, perfectly imperfect, human beings. We will spend
our whole lives wrestling with that reality. We do, however, have The Sacrament
of Reconciliation to strengthen us for the struggle. A Sacrament that is so
misused, because it is so misunderstood. It is the Sacrament of Reconciliation,
not, obliteration. To make the spiritual journey even more challenging,
reconciliation is a process that takes place under grace. My mother taught me a
long time ago, “the mills of God grind very slow, but they grind ever true.”
That slow working of God’s grace does not, and never has sat well with this
Irishman. When we claim our God given worthwhileness we will live out our daily
lives as survivors, and not as victims. We, then, remove all those who do not
respect, and reverence us. We are to set boundaries with those who would use
and abuse us. That is why; we have been endowed by our Creator God, with the
gift of anger, so that our boundaries will be defended, from the constant
attack from those who have no boundaries. This is the battle that must be
fought on a regular basis. As long as we live within the bonds of family life
healthy boundaries will ALWAYS be tested.

The last right to be claimed is the right to have fun. “St.Irenaeus,” The glory
of God is the human person fully alive.” There must be some place where the joy
of living must be experienced. The Pope has come out against “sour pusses.”
Followers of The Good News must let all know that we have a God with a sense of
humor, a living God that is reflected in the joy of fun we are having. We are
not called to live the life of Job; we are called, chosen to be sacraments of
the risen life. A life that comes to us, through slow transformation of our
pain.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

With this
letter comes my most heartfelt greetings for a Season filled with mystery, awe,
and wonder. As we are drawn, again, into a newer and deeper understanding of
The Mystery of The incarnation may Its reality lead you into a deeper reverence
for the mystery of who you are, who you have been called to be, and Who IS
doing this calling. This call is announced to us through the sacrament, that
is, everyday living. That is why I hope and pray this greeting finds you
celebrating life in the place you are at, in what you are doing, and most
of all in the mystery of your becoming. In this way of living, The Mystery of
The Incarnation is ever new. In the newness of your living, God becomes ever
new. So through the words, work, and wonder of your life may the gifts of
peace, joy and love come to a world that is aching for those gifts. These gifts
can and do become real through the reality of our Incarnational living.

This is the
reason why we are in the midst of a season that is filled with a sense of
preparation and expectation. We are making ready of gifts and blessings, which
in reality are symbols of The Gift coming to us in each and every sacramental
moment we are given to celebrate. Some gifts are recognized right away. For other
gifts, time is required for us to come to and understanding and the
acceptance of their hidden giftedness. “By reason of creation, and still more
by reason of The Incarnation, there is nothing profane for her/him who knows
how to see” (Chardin).So we are given
the Season of Advent to awaken anew our sense of the sacredness of all of
creation. The Season of Advent is just a stepping stone to the main event. The
main event we are being directed toward is The Feast of The Epiphany. Pope
Francis is an epiphany man. He is asking us to leave behind our narrow focus so
we can embrace and be embraced by that which is so great it is The Infinite.
The message of The Epiphany, is God has come for all people, not those whom we
think are the favored few. That is why when we stop at Christmas we never get
to the essence of the message. We are so much the poorer, and as a consequence
all of creation suffers. Sad to say I did not have that understanding leaving
the seminary, or in my early years of ministry. Over the years there has been
an evolution. This has come from a deepening of faith, which comes to one
through the mystery of suffering. I now believe what St. Augustine said so many years ago, “Faith
leads to understanding,” not understanding leads to faith. That journey of
faith is like driving along that awe-full Oregon coast line. I love to drive from
Brookings to MyersBeach. The views are breathtaking,
but not always, some days you have coastal fog. Then you will drive from one
fog bank to another, and then to another. In between there can be bright
sunshine. As you drive in the sunshine you think you are free of the fog, when
almost immediately here comes another fog bank. That sums up the faith journey
in a nut shell. There is no certainty, only the uncertainty of the dark night
which leads to constant change. The older I get the more I fight change. (One
never wins that battle. There is however a slow surrender.) Yet change is now
the only certainty. It is only through lots, and lots of grace the eyes the
heart, and the door of the soul are opened and an ever new reality is revealed.
This revelation takes place over time. I am not and never have been too
accepting of this slow process. I am Irish, duh!!!. We are not a patient
people. I want everything and I want it yesterday. I have what you may call a
microwave mentality. Even the microwave is not fast enough. It bugs me that I
have to wait 3-4 minutes for my egg beaters to cook in the morning. I am now
more accepting of the word of Metz,
“We are born human and spend our whole life discovering what human means.”

I was forced to journey deeper into what it means to be powerless. This summer
I had five visits to the hospital. Two were to the emergency room. What an
experience. One visit was on a Friday night. I now have an even deeper
appreciation for all those who work in the medical field, and I mean all. No
wonder there are the great promises in Matt 25. I almost lost my voice. It was
down to a whisper. The blessing that has come from that is no more long
sermons. The voice will not hold up. I had a number of health challenges which
kept me grounded until the end of July. For this reason my travels were not as
long as usual. I spent all my time in the High Rockies. It was there I began to
breathe right again, and my voice returned. Not to where it was, but good
enough. I am able to hike in SouthMountain again, and
am building up my endurance. The long hikes are a thing of the past as well.

As I look back I am so very, very grateful for your presence in my life. Some
of the old friends have passed on leaving an emptiness, but feelings of
gratitude bubble up. There are so many that have shown love and acceptance
which has enabled me to embrace a God of love, mercy, and acceptance. Continue
that wonder-full, awe-full ministry. Always remember wherever you are,
there is God, and His Church. So many are no longer coming to church. Then you
bring the church to them. You do not preach, but let your actions be your gospel
for all to see and read. That great saying “Preach the Gospel where ever you
go, and when NECESSARY use words.” Our Pope Francis has spoken volumes not by
what he has said , but, by his actions. What a great model The Holy Spirit has
blessed us with. He sure has rattled a few cages, and has let the captives go
free. Let us never try to re-cage those who have been freed to be who they
really are in God's love. My parting gift, paraphrasing Robbie Burns: “Would
that God the gift to give you, to yourself as God sees you.”

Blessings then for a continuous discovery of the birthing that is ever and
always an essential part of an authentic human life. A life has the divine
perfectly hidden within, and at the same time perfectly reveals Him whose
divinity dwells in the depths of each and every human being. May The Mystery of
The Incarnation vivify your life, so you become more and more the living
sacrament of Him Who came to dwell in us through us and among us. Reverence the
mystery of who you are. In this way you will have life and have it to the
fullest.

Blessings to and on all,

Grandpa Joe

P.S.

You will all be
remembered at the 9:00am and 11:00am Masses on Christmas Day.I will have the privilege of celebrating with
the community of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in
Tempe.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

Advent 2014, never before, never again, is coming to us,
here and now, with an eternal newness. A newness that always challenges us
to put on a new set of lenses so we will have the faith and courage to let go
of the certainty and the security of the past. For what purpose? So we can
free ourselves to be lost in The Mystery that is "ever ancient and
ever new." A mystery we are celebrating, anew, this Advent season, but the
question has to be asked are we ready for the newness? There is an eternal
newness to our living God. As we participate in this newness there must be a
newness that is revealed in us and through us, for others. What we are given is
never for ourselves. (St. Paul)This newness is presented in the every ordinary,
yet, ever new moment, we are given to live. It is in the living of each moment
that the living God, of Jesus the Christ comes to us and through us to all of
creation. This is The Great Advent which is forever happening, in the sacrament
of eternal now. The coming, this advent of God which is a moment to moment
reality, is the mystery we spend four weeks reflecting on each and every year.
The purpose of this reflective time is to a deeper our faith in the newness of
our God. Because of the newness of our God there must be a newness within each
one of us, since in Him/Her "we live and move and have our being."
How exciting, how challenging that reality is??? Are we ready to embrace the
challenge, of leaving behind comfort and certainty so as to journey into the
great unknown of faith?

“We are driven blindly along a path we have never seen or heard of, unable to
venture any other. Divine action never follows the same course; it always
traces out new paths. Those whom it leads NEVER know where they are going; they
will not find the way through or by their own searching. Divine action for ever
opens the way which we are compelled to take." J-P De Caussade. My ego
wants no part of this insecurity and uncertainty. My ego wants the security of
certainty, and when that certainty disappears, which it will; there is serious
fear-filled panic. On the other hand, my spirit wants to fly free into the
unknown. To be blown this way and that way by the breath of The Creative Spirit
of Love. The Holy Spirit is the creative power of our God, creating and
recreating us ever anew. The Creator God is forever molding us and shaping us
into the person we are meant to be, not the person we want, or wish to be. The
Model we are modeled after is coming to dwell among us. He is coming to be
enfleshed within our flesh, which is The Mystery of the Incarnation. Through
this mystery we are provided with a living, and so an ever evolving model to
follow. We cannot enter a newness of life being modeled after some dead
inanimate object. When we make this error we pay a terrible price. Our Eternal,
Living God comes to live among us so as to lead us to live lives way
beyond anything our imagination could ever imagine. Lives that are only possible
through the action of Grace. Grace, we know, is the love of God in action. That
action is always within the reality of the here and now. Once we go outside the
reality of the here and now God cannot reach us. We are not disposing ourselves
for the only encounter that really matters. For that we are responsible, the
gift of free will can be such a blessing, but it also can be such a curse. All
gifts follow the same pattern.

This Spirit, then, blows where It wills, and in the way of its own choosing.
Darn it. This Spirit cannot be programmed to fit our little narrow
agenda. This requires of us a constant state of awareness and alertness to the
battle that, of necessity, will, and does, ensue. It is happening right now in the
depths of who we are. It is a moment to moment struggle which results in the
old passes away, to give way to the birthing of the new. This too, in time,
will lead to a newness which we must make room for. So, in every life is sown
the seeds of death, in every death there is in potency, the reality of new
life. This new life will be nourished into the fullness of life through the
miracle of grace, not by anything we may say or do. I am beginning to
appreciate more and more the words of St. John of The Cross, “We journey to Him
we do not know, a path we do not know.” Our journey, in faith, is then a
journey into the darkness of insecurity, and uncertainty. A journey that
somehow is guided and guarded by a power beyond our understanding and
comprehension. A book, I find both challenging, and unsettling, is 'The
Sacrament of the Present Moment" by Jean-Pierre De Caussade. Writing about
this journey into the darkness of faith he has this to say “Those who find
themselves this way are often afraid, like the prophet, to follow it afraid of
running into danger when walking through that darkness. Have no fear faithful
souls! That is where your path lies, the way along which your God is guiding
you. THERE IS NOTHING SAFER OR SURER THAN THE DARK NIGHT OF FAITH. Following in
any way when faith is so obscure and darkness obliterates everything and the
path can no longer be discerned, for a path cannot be lost which does not
exist. But the soul cries out: "Every moment I seem to be falling down a
precipice. I know I am surrendering myself to God that I can achieve nothing
unless I cease to act on the strength of my own virtue.....I cannot see that it
is guiding me in the right direction, but I cannot prevent myself from
believing that it is"...The state of pure faith is the state of pure
suffering. All is dark, all is pain.... The more pitfalls there are, the more darkness,
danger, mortification, dryness, fear, privation, trouble, anguish, despair, persecution,
suffering, and desolation there is on our way, the more our faith and trust
will be strengthened...We will forget the way and all its twists and turns, we
will forget ourselves and totally surrender to the wisdom, the mercy, and the
power of our guide.

This Guide is coming to us, disguised as a helpless, vulnerable baby. We are on
an endless searching journey. A mysterious journey that will take us beyond
that which is seen into the realm of mystery and the unseen. This Advent
let us look beyond the familiar so as to get in touch with the great unseen.
This unseen is our deepest and most sacred reality. Let us take the familiar
characters of the Gospel story, and see where each makes a dwelling place
within us. As you place the figures of your crib scene, search your inner space
for the place where they are now dwelling. They are patiently waiting, and have
been waiting in your depths, so as to be discovered and become living
realities. In this way you as individual, couples, families, will have the
lived experience of what it means to be, the living continuation of The Mystery
of The Incarnation.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

"Look
not backward in anger, forward in fear, but around in awareness," is
something I read many years ago. As we approach the end of the Liturgical Year
it is good, no necessary, to keep these words front and center. Why? Well as we
listen to the scriptures, about the end of time, we can lose focus on "the
here and now." When we lose touch with "the here and now," we lose
touch with reality, and so with The Real. All we will ever have is
"the here and now," and is here, in the right now, our Gracious God
is reaching out to us. We, for our part, must be ready for the gifts that
are offered to us, in each and every moment. There is no moment that we are not
being offered that which we need for a healthy, and whole (holy), life. These
gifts come to us disguised as, "everyday living," which unfortunately
we can, and do take for granted. We begin to see them as a right, rather than
as a gift. A gift that is not intended for ourselves, but for others. Thank God,
we are challenged to see beyond our little agendas, to a vision of the greater
picture, the coming of The Kingdom. This kingdom is where we will encounter, and
also be the place of other encounters, with that which is essential for
healthy, human dwelling. I speak here of
peace, justice and love. These are the three essentials we need for
lives of peace and harmony with ourselves, and as a consequence with others.
Let us remind ourselves that the state of the individual soul, decides the
state of a family's reality, and by extension, the state of the nation and world.
There are times then when the peace of the world is in serious danger, because
of the war within our depths.

I guess that is
why our Pope is placing so much emphasis on healthy spirituality. A healthy
spirituality is concerned with making us aware of the fact that our God is
encountering us where we are, not where we would like to be, or where we are
supposed to be, or expected to be. That covers an awe-full amount of space. We
cannot live a healthy spiritual life in the illusion of expectation. That is
not living in reality, the place where The Real, has its dwelling place.
Reality is all about the here and now, and this is the place of our encounter with
our Prodigal Father/Mother God. This is always a new experience, because we are
ever new in our becoming. Through the action of grace we are always in the
process of becoming that which our God has intended us to be. We are to be the
living and active presence of His Son, Jesus Christ, who is in turn, the
revelation of The Living God. Each one is a sacrament of God, a dignity that
must ever be cherished, and celebrated. As we read the many encounters between
The Prophet Jesus and those in need we become more aware of the readiness of
Jesus to meet the person or persons in the reality of their situation. There
was never a question of qualifying for the gift that was to be offered. Jesus
was able to see the essential goodness of His creation standing, or lying in
His presence. He was able to see beyond the narrow vision of religious law, to
the all embracing acceptance of The Prodigal God, He came to reveal to us
through His life and ministry. He came to model, for those who were called to
be His followers, how life was to be led. Thank God, we have begun a return to
an ever deepening understanding of the Gospel's good news, and how it applies
to our "here and now."

As it was in
the '60s so it is today, we face a battle, a struggle between the forces of rigidity
and compassion. As it was, so it is, and
unfortunately will be until the end of time. Through all of the struggles, we
have to have that confidence that the Holy Spirit is making all things work
together for the good of all. History just keeps on repeating itself. It will
take a real change in consciousness to change that pattern. From what I have
read there seems to be a new consciousness emerging from the present struggles
of a broken humanity ever emerging into a wholeness, a oneness. There is a new creation on its way. Let us then be instruments of healthy change,
reflected in us being spirituality healthy. We can do this by adopting the following way
of living the life given to us to live. Let us "leave our yesterday to the
mercy of God, tomorrow to the providence of God, so we can line in and enjoy
the love of God today." Easy to write, easy to say but so difficult to do.
There is such a difference between the "saying" and the "doing."I guess that is why we do not think our way
into a new way of acting, we must act our way into a new way of thinking. Right?? I have to learn that lesson, over and over,
and over again.

This
leads us to have to face the harsh reality which comes with us being spiritual
beings immersed in the human condition (Chardin). We are always coming up
short. No one has it wired. That is why the parable of the wheat and the
weeds is so essential for a gentle understanding of self and others. Spiritual living, that is healthy spiritual
living, will eventually challenge us to admit the following, what we
thought was a strength, was actually a weakness, and what was seen as a
weakness is now the place where the transforming power of grace is encountered.
Because of this encounter a newer and a deeper understanding of what it means
to be loved, as the beloved is revealed. This is a slow process. It is done in Kairos time, in other words, in
God's time. God's time cannot be measured.
I guess heaven, like Las Vegas, has no
clocks.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

At the end
of the last blog there was an effort made to encourage the slow reflective
reading of the quote from Henri Nouwen. Why? Because within those words there
is contained so much of what we seek, and yearn for. They convey to both you
and me, who we are in the love of our Gracious, Prodigal and always surprising
God. Pope Francis recently reminded us that our God Is a God Who surprises. Our
God breaks into our lives, as scripture warns us, “at a time we least expect.”
I think you will agree that our God not only comes when we least expect, but in
disguises that blow us away. God is the God of uncertainty, not certainty. What
we all must accept is that we cannot box God into a neat package. A package
that we construct with our finite minds. A lot of pride there. The Indefinable
we decide to define. There is a warning that comes to us from Africa, “To
define something, is to KILL it” Have we not borne the brunt of pain brought
about by the narrowing of the understanding of The Incomprehensible. When
efforts are made, as our Pope is doing, to broaden the horizons, there is war.
We see that played out every day now. The Pope is slowly guiding us to a newer
and a more inclusive understanding of God’s love for all of His/Her creation.
This means we have to change our old ideas, let them go so that a newer and a
fuller understanding may be ours. The Rabbi Jesus had real difficulty with the
rigorists of His day, just as Pope Francis has today. The only way we can be
the church Pope Francis envisions, is for us to embrace his vision. This vision
of a church of mercy, a church of welcome, and hospitality for all, begins
within the human heart of each one of us. The same human heart that beats
within the breast of The God-man, beats within you and me. Jesus did not have
one model of heart, and us a lesser model, a more vulnerable one. If that were
so then, The Incarnation was a waste of time. The Prophet Jesus did not allow
Himself to be boxed in, and fit into the expectations of others. Just in the
same way our God, The God of Jesus Christ, refuses to be boxed in. Therein,
lies the challenge of the spiritual journey. “We journey to Him we do not know,
by a path we do not know.”(St. John of The Cross.) Our journey is a journey
into uncertainty, and into the certainty of God’s unconditioned, unlimited, and
unrestricted love as our Good Shepherd.

That
is why we need to connect ever and always with the fact that we are the
beloved. Every day we are given 86,400 seconds to listen to The Voice that says
to me “You are my beloved.” Fr. Nouwen goes on to say:
“Every time you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the
Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear the voice longer
and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the desert. Once you have
touched wet ground, you want to dig deeper. I have been doing a lot of digging
lately and I know that I am beginning to see a little stream bubbling up
through the dry sand. I have to keep digging because that little stream comes
from a huge reservoir beneath the desert of my life. The word “digging” might
not be the best word, since it suggests hard and painful work that finally
leads me to the place where I can quench my thirst. Perhaps all we need to do
is to remove the dry sand that covers the well. There may be quite a pile of
sand in our lives, but The One who desires to quench our thirst will help to
remove it. All we really need is a great desire to find the water and drink
from it.”

There
goes that word “desire” again. According to the spiritual writers, to have the
desire is all we need.” We become what we desire. Remember what Thomas Merton
wrote that if we have the desire to do what is right, and just, God’s will, we
will be led on the right road, though we may know nothing about it at the time.
As long as God knows we do not have to worry, just trust in His love for us,
not our love for Him. But we, at least, I do not trust easily. Where there has
been abuse, and betrayal in our life experience, trust is a hard commodity to
come by. There has to be, and has been, a great refrain, “I believe Lord help
my disbelief/unbelief” “out of the depths I cry to You O Lord, Lord hear my
cry.” “O God come to my assistance. God, make haste to help me.” The response
is not always immediate. The response will come. Many times the response just
reinforces we have a God of surprises, and a weird sense of humor.

While
I was on my Summer trip, I received calls from some friends wanting to hear my
voice. They had heard that I had died, and wanted assurance that the news of my
death was over exaggerated. It was one of those Ah! Ah! moments. I had time in
the High Rockies to reflect on “what if it were true?” What has been left
unsaid? (This did not matter as my voice was only a whisper). What are the
things that must be said so the others do not have to go through without some
warning, and a source of hope. One person has written “write like you are
dying,” and what a challenge that is. We are all on the road to death, and the
return to Eternal Love from which we all have sprung. That Source of our
existence is so easily forgotten, and so our life is a hellish journey. We
must, moment to moment, call to consciousness the following; In His love we are
one, ever and always. There is no moment that we are not present to His
creative love. It is Not as we love ourselves, or the world loves us that we
are loved in the depth of our being. We are all held in His compassionate love.
Compassionate Love has been incarnated, revealed to us in His Son, Jesus
Christ. He came to “suffer with us.” To be compassion. Let us make
compassionate living our great goal, the great defining desire of our lives.
Then we will be led to the reality of the “law of graduality.” It is only
gradually, we are led to discover the reality hidden and revealed within each
step of each hike. There is revealed The God of surprises Who is to be
discovered as we make our hike through the mountains and the valleys of life.
We now appreciate in a new and different way the fresh water we drink from from
the trickling streams, and hidden wells. The life giving properties of that
water corresponds to the life giving water that springs up from within us. This
fountain, Is The Fountain, the source of Eternal life. That has been my
experience, and the experience of others with who I have accompanied. Make this
law of graduality the lens through which you always look at life. God Is loving
you. This I do not want you even to think, or question. His creative love is
molding you, forming you, ever so slowly, darn it, but ever so gently. Ever so
slowly and ever so gently the living presence of the Risen Christ is revealed,
in you and through you, always for others. The historical Jesus did not become
the Risen Christ without first having to endure what you are suffering right
now. So???